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CULTURAL GLOBALISATION: THE ROLE OF SOUTH, EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA www.IndianJournals.com Members Copy, Not for Commercial Sale Downloaded From IP - 115.248.73.67 on dated 27-Dec-2010 of their spread during this period, there was “a cultural Americanization of the world during the 1920s … (the beginnings of a) … global cultural order” (ibid, p 115). Clark (ibid, p 91) however, states, “… there is a superficial validity to this picture but it is much overdrawn. Whatever impact all this might have had in metropolitan Europe, segments of Latin America and pockets of Asia, it is to be doubted that the vast majority of (the) world’s population was even aware of these new developments, let alone culturally assimilated by them”. This paper, however, does not deal with the sociology of globalisation (Dominique Martin, Jean-Luc Metzger and Philippe Pierre, “The Sociology of Globalization: Theoretical and Methodological Reflections”, International Sociology, Vol 21, No 4, 2006, pp 499– 521) or the globalisation of the visual arts as dealt with by Alain Quemin (“Globalization and Mixing in the Visual Arts: An Empirical Survey of ‘High Culture’ and Globalization”, International Sociology, ibid, pp 522–50). Though some scholars believe the world has become unipolar, others think it is multipolar in terms of trade, defence, etc (James Leigh, “Post-Globalisation: The Asian Superpower in the Making”, World Affairs, Vol 10, No 2, 2006, pp 14–35). The principle of multipolarity can also be applied to cultural globalisation in the sense that the US is not alone in culturally globalising the world. The “Americanization” of culture throughout the globe, as believed by a majority of people, is true only to an extent, as shown by an in-depth analysis. The history of civilisation reveals that the phenomenon of the globalisation of civilisation has existed for long. In most cases it developed independently, unlike in the modern age where some centres have influenced civilisations all over. For example, during the Stone Age, Palaeolithic, Mesolithic or Neolithic cultures were present all over the world and though they were uniform, they rarely influenced each other. Some scholars believe that ideas “fly”. As such, initially civilisations like the Chinese, Egyptian, Indus and Sumerian flourished in select pockets, while parts of Africa and America remained Stone Age cultures. However later, many ideas from pottery to bricks, etc were globalised, that too without an organisation like the World Trade Organization (WTO). Therefore, the phenomenon of globalisation in nature and civilisation is not new. Moreover, globalisation had already occurred on the level of “lifestyles”. The hypothesis is that industrialisation and colonisation made people’s lifestyles all over the globe similar, if not the same. From agriculture, VOL 13 NO 4 WINTER 2009 WORLD AFFAIRS 21
K SYAMALAMMA AND P KRISHNA MOHAN REDDY cooking, electricity, fuel, the production of food grains and transport to household and kitchen articles, that is, almost all articles used by people around the world were introduced by Europe. In essence, this may be called “Europeanization”, though it is truly globalisation. Today, in almost every city, town or even village in Africa, Asia or South America, in most homes, offices or even agricultural fields, little is left in terms of lifestyles, which is not European or Western. Most forget that though the US today is steering globalisation and the process of globalising, it obtained most of its lifestyle goods from Europe. In this sense, Europe has already globalised the entire world, including the US. www.IndianJournals.com Members Copy, Not for Commercial Sale Downloaded From IP - 115.248.73.67 on dated 27-Dec-2010 Cultural Globalisation and Asia Globalisation is generally understood in terms of the movement of goods and services that is, in terms of trade. In the last two decades as various agreements have been signed in world trading organisations, a genuine globalisation has taken place. However, this process of globalisation started and has been sustained in a few “nuclear centres” of the world. Former Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee (The Hindu, March 18, 2007) described this feature as the “centre of gravity” in After the advent of colonisation, Africa and Asia were made to serve the interests of European colonial powers, either as suppliers of raw materials and finished goods or as markets for European products. The Industrial Revolution globalised world production and trade. the global economy. He said that the global economy was undergoing a shift in its centre of gravity from Europe and North America to Asia for the first time in 350 years. Historically speaking this feature has been present since the times of the Egyptian and Indus civilisations. Around 500 BC for instance, the centres of gravity were parts of Africa and Europe and the whole of Asia. The former two were dependent on the latter for certain goods like spices, silk, etc and in turn served as its markets. This trend continued until the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. After the advent of colonisation, Africa and Asia were made to serve the interests of European colonial powers, either as suppliers of raw materials and finished goods or as markets for 22 WORLD AFFAIRS WINTER 2009 VOL 13 NO 4
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